Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

Revelation 21:1-9

In my last blog article, I discussed a topic that is very unpopular in today’s church. That is the topic of hell. I discussed what exactly is hell and who will go there at the end of all things. It is a harsh reality, but it is a reality that awaits all who never repent and believe in Jesus Christ. However, despite of popular belief, every single one of us deserves to be there due to our sin. All of us have sinned, and all of us fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). We all deserve God’s holy wrath and judgement because of our sin. We were dead in sin, with no ability to fix ourselves (Ephesians 2:1-3). But God, in His great mercy and lovingkindness, made a way for us to be redeemed through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5). Those who repent and believe in Jesus Christ are saved and are made righteous in the sight of God. Because of this, we are now able to spend an eternity in Kingdom of God, also known as heaven. In order to truly understand the significance of this, we need to first understand what exactly heaven is.

First, let us start with what heaven is not. Heaven is not some place sitting on top of clouds with angles playing harps all day. No, heaven is a place of magnificent holiness where God currently sits on His thrown. It is a place where evil does not exist, but only righteousness reigns. There is no death, no sin, no pain, so sickness, none of that. It is a perfectly holy and perfectly righteous place where a perfectly holy and perfectly righteous God reigns. However, for this article in particular, when I speak of heaven, I am not talking about the current heaven. I am talking about the new heaven and new earth where God will rule on His throne for all eternity. The current heaven, where the souls of those who are in Christ go after death, is a temporary place. Our eternity will be spent in the new earth. It will be a place of zero sin and death. There will be no evil, no wars, no petty politics, no nefarious politicians, no sickness, none of that will exist. Only those who are perfectly righteous may reign in this Kingdom. No unrighteous person will enter the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). But didn’t I say that all have sinned? If there are none who are righteous, who can possibly enter God’s Kingdom. The answer is Jesus Christ.

As I stated in the beginning of this article, despite our sinfulness and wickedness, God made a way through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for His elect to be redeemed. Let us elaborate. Jesus Christ, who is God in flesh (truly God and truly Man), willingly gave up His life in order for us to be redeemed. He was beaten, mocked, whipped, and flogged. He had a crown of thorns beaten into His head. He was then sentenced to death by crucifixion, forced to carry His cross up to Mt Calvary and then was nailed to it. On the cross, the sins of all of His elect was imputed onto Him, and then He took on God’s full wrath for those sins in our place. He died, He was buried, and then He rose from the dead on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). This means that those who repent and believe will not only will our sins be forgiven, but also the very righteousness of Christ is imputed onto us. As a result, the Father will not see our wickedness. Instead, He will see the righteousness of Christ. This is why believers can enter the Kingdom. It has nothing to do with what we did, but what Christ did.

This what we as followers of Christ have to look forward to. A day where there will be no more sin and death. A day where all things are made new.

But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

2 Peter 3:13

However, we do not yet know when this will be. We do not know when Christ will return and make all things new. That is why we are to persevere and continue to stand firm in the faith. No matter what trials or battles we may face, we are to remain strong in our faith in Christ. But let us not lose hope. Christ is indeed coming soon. He will destroy all of evil and then fully make us new where the curse of sin will no longer be in us. This is our great hope as followers of Christ. May all glory be to Christ.